PEANUT MARKETING NEWS – March 31, 2020 – Tyron Spearman, Editor (39)

PEANUT STOCKS AND PROCESSING REPORT– USDA’s Peanut Stocks and Processing Report was released March 27, 2020 for
the month of February2020, the 7th month of the marketing year. The heading in the report says shelled edible grade to date
utilization is up 4% from last year.
Peanut stocks in commercial storage as of February 29, 2020 totaled 4.16 billion pounds equivalent farmer stock, compared to
4.33 billion pounds last year, DOWN 3.9%. This total includes 3.42 billion pounds of actual farmer stock, down 2.8% from last
year.
Shelled peanuts on hand farmer stock equivalent totaled 714 million pounds, UP 2.6% from last year. Roasted stocks were
27.1 million pounds, down 36.7% from one year ago. Total shelled peanut stocks showed 510 million pounds of which 505 million
pounds were considered edible grades. Oil stocks totaled 26.6 million pounds, up 3.1% from same time last year.
Edible stocks of shelled peanuts by type, Virginia & Valencia stocks are at 83 million pounds, up 12.6% from last year.
Runners were 390 million pounds, UP 3.2%% and Spanish totaled 37.2 million lbs, down 18.2%.
In February, shellers milled 383 million pounds, 29% less than same month last year.
Commercial processors used 187 million pounds of shelled edible peanuts, 3.3% more than last year.
Government purchases for Nutrition Programs in February totaled 1.172 million lbs of peanut butter, DOWN 33.9%
compared to same month last year. However, for the first 7 months, government purchases are up 24.3% to 16.347 million lbs.
USE OF RAW SHELLED PEANUTS IN PRIMARY PRODUCTS
Month(1000 #) Peanut candy Snack peanuts Peanut butter Total edibles In-shell P'nuts
Aug 2019- Feb 2020 215,084 278,872 798,513 1,354,671 82,263
Aug 2018- Feb 2019 215,971 270,092 753,086 1,298,951 81,481
DOWN – 0.4% UP + 3.2% UP + 6.0% UP + 4.3% UP + 0.9%
Feb .20 vs Feb.19 + 2.6% + 7.1% + 4.1% + 4.4% +14.5%
Good news for the peanut industry. The retail market for raw shelled peanuts is maintaining that 4% growth. February was up
4.4% with all categories in the PLUS. For the 7 month period, peanut usage is 4.3% and analyst predict demand to increase
during the Coronavirus “STAY HOME” rule.

Peanuts: Area Planted by State and U. S. (Estimated – March 31, 2020 NASS)
State Area Planted (1,000 acres)
2017 2018 2019 2020 Percent Prev.Yr.
Alabama 195.0 165.0 160.0 165.0 103%
Arkansas 30.0 26.0 34.0 35.0 103%
Florida 195.0 155.0 165.0 175.0 106%
Georgia 835.0 665.0 670.0 740.0 110%
Mississippi 44.0 25.0 20.0 20.0 100%
New Mexico 7.6 5.5 4.7 5.0 106%
North Carolina 119.0 102.0 104.0 105.0 101%
Oklahoma 22.0 16.0 15.0 12.0 80%
South Carolina 122.0 87.0 65.0 75.0 115%
Texas 275.0 155.0 165.0 170.0 103%
Virginia 27.0 24.0 25.0 27.0 108%
U.S. Total 1,871.6 1,425.5 1,427.7 1,529.0 107%
2020 U.S. PEANUT ACREAGE FORECAST – Growers intend to plant 1.53 million acres in 2020, up 7 percent from 2019. Compared
with last year, all States are expecting an increase or no change in planted area except for Oklahoma. In Georgia, the largest peanut-
producing State, expected planted area is up 10 percent from 2019. If realized, it will be the most acres planted since 2017.
OTHER CROPS –2020
Corn growers intend to plant 97million acres, UP 8% from last year or 7.29 million acres from last year.
Cotton farmers intend to plant 13.7 million acres, 1% below last year.
Soybean acreage is estimated at 83.5 million acres, UP 5 percent from last year. Acreage is UP or unchanged in 22 of the 29
estimating states.
Wheat acreage is estimated at 44.7 million acres, down 1% from 2019. This is the lowest planted area on record since 1919..